Weddingbee PRO
I was up at Lake Okoboji in Spirit Lake, Iowa with my parents and grandparents for the weekend. A few years ago my folks bought a place up here and visiting in the summer is better than staying in a tropical resort. My mom cooks for me, I can sit on the dock and work in my big hat and sunscreen, there are always parties and social events to attend, and I still stay up all night working.
I don't mind at all. Sometimes I search my brain looking for feelings of resent, or exhaustion, even annoyance with my work. With the responsibility of working for 25 brides per month, all of whom are counting on me and trusting me to deliver custom flowers made only for them, I feel like I ought to be exasperated.
It's not only flowers–95% of my customers also ask for accessories and products ranging from belts and capelets and teapot centerpieces and veils and “just married” banners and hairpieces and special custom gift wrapping. I usually say yes because it is fun for me. It is fun for me even when I have been awake for 30 hours and my employees are already loaded up with as much work as they can handle and I am still waiting on shipments of new wool felt and there are 500 other things fighting for space at the top of my priority list. (E-mails, my new FAQ and Pricing pages, blog interviews, and silk chiffon pom poms, I will get to you soon.)
I feel like I ought to be exasperated but I'm not. I'm only motivated. I was talking to my friends Eric and Steve last night at a local bar at 2a.m. about this –if I wasn't motivated, I would sleep. I would have a long restful night of sleep and wake up with the comfort of knowing what my day would bring. But I never know, I never know what I will have to wake up and do right now now now because The Big Idea just hit me and if I don't do it, I will never be restful. I am always motivated. So I remain awake at night. It is when the magic happens.
There are quite a few Etsy exclusive items that just launched over at our etsy shoppe . Here are some of my favorites:
One of the most popular questions I receive is “How did you and Professor Lasertron get engaged?” It's a great story (although I'm biased), a common question, and I can easily write a long post about it! 
One February night in 2007, I was up late at my apartment working on button flower orders. I was thinking about my boyfriend, and I thought “this is the man I want to marry.”
Always impatient and not one for sitting around, I decided that I ought to go after it and propose to Dave.
First, I began looking for an engagement ring. I found jeweler Kathryn Reichert through Etsy. We had previously purchased matching posey rings from her that said “Megan loves David/David loves Megan” on the inside of the band that we wore. We absolutely love them, so Kathryn was the obvious choice for David's engagement ring. She worked closely with me to create a custom piece that was perfect for him. Here they are in their unwashed glory.
I also created a little book that told the story of how we met. I illustrated each page with drawings of us.
I have been working on some new cake designs and will continue to do so this coming week. I feel like I go through periods where I am really into cookies, then cupcakes, and finally now cakes. I definitely get bored doing the same thing over and over again, which is why I love having the flexibility to try new things. So here are some photos of some cakes I made. I would love to hear which one you like the most and why, so please drop me a comment and share your thoughts. I tried some new techniques while decorating these cakes and will be sharing more of the details with you in future posts, but just to clarify some questions I know I will be asked I will share some of the details now. Well, here come the photos!
The intrepid Ms. Lia Lafreniere took these behind-the-scenes snaps of our studio a while back, and we thought we'd share them! Our space is an old button factory in downtown San Francisco - it's got a real club-house-y kind of feel…
I got an e-mail from The Turtle Love Committee blog saying that they had seen a picture of our nontraditional rings and wanted to do a profile on my husband and I for their website. Dave and I then took some better pictures of our rings for the article. I'll be sure to link to it once it goes up!
Who knew that ordering bakery equipment and supplies could be so daunting!?! I think I have over analyzed every aspect of cupcake liners, packaging design, ovens, and baking racks. I am happy to announce that I placed my HUGE order for all the baking equipment and tried not to look at the price quote when I got it…I simply closed my eyes and signed the check! I have to give a shout out to my wonderful parents who have practically funded my whole dream and decided to jump on board as partners in the business with my husband and I! I absolutely love working with my family and so happy that they will all be surrounding me as I take this crazy journey into sugar, spice, and “hopefully” everything nice!
One thing that has made this journey so sweet has been the amazing vendors that I have met along the way, and now I am even lucky enough to call them friends! Carissa from JL Designs has probably helped me more than anyone in the wedding industry and has truly been a blessing in my life! She is the most talented floral and event designer and seriously blows me away each time I see her work! I can still remember the first time she asked me to tag along to one of her photo shoots and I couldn't believe it! It was so last minute, but I didn't care. My sister and I busted out 6 mini cakes and a two tiered wedding cake in one night! When I asked who the photographers would be and Carissa said Carlie and Gabriel from Gabriel Ryan Photographers I was jumping for joy! I am in love with their work and was so excited for them to shoot my sweets! They are not only talented, but some of the most fun, genuine, and sweet people I know! We were all also so lucky to work with Allison from Invitation Innovations, Desiree from Wildflower Linens, and Megan from Classic Party Rentals! Carissa's fabulous publicist Leila Khalil, from Be Inspired PR, landed us in the new issue of Bride & Bloom Magazine, and I can't thank her enough! Here is one of the two shoots we did that day!
The opportunity for us to work with brides all the time is nothing short of joyful, but the opportunity to be a bride who works at Bella Figura? Absolutely incredible. As I've been planning my own wedding, it has been a sincere and immeasurable pleasure to interact with the wonderful brides we've printed letterpress invitations for, and I've found myself completely immersed in beautiful letterpress wedding invitations every day. Hearing their stories, seeing their wedding photos, sharing in a bit of their sheer bliss, has been a remarkable way to prepare for my own wedding, which is taking place this weekend! Knowing how helpful and wonderful it has been for me to take a glimpse into the planning and happiness of other brides, I thought it seemed only appropriate to take this week to share a bit of my own wedding and my own inspiration.
Milk glass vases were something I knew I wanted to incorporate from the beginning.
{Photo by Punam Bean}
A weeks ago, I had the pleasure of working with Chenin Boutwell of Boutwell Studio and Alice Grisez (I'm a big fan!) on a wedding at the Fairmont Hotel that was held on July 4th.
I wanted to share one image by the talented Chenin. You can seem more of the gorgeous images from Lindsey and Chris' wedding on Chenin's amazing blog (love her soft romantic and fresh style).
Lindsey is holding an all peonies bouquet. Before everyone starts planning on peonies for July, please be warned -we treated these peonies with kid gloves. Lindsey's original bouquet was an all David Austen garden rose bouquet in a soft cream. I had planned to go with the all rose bouquet knowing that the chance of an all white peonies bouquet was very slim.
However, during our wedding planning process Lindsey told me how much she loved peonies and had her heart set on them but knew that the chance of getting peonies the week of her wedding was very unlikely. Never once did I let on that I secretly had an idea….
You probably already know that around here, printing gorgeous letterpress invitations makes us absolutely giddy. With that said, when Smock had the opportunity to print the letterpress invitations, escort cards and menus for the recent Modern Bride Trendsetters Awards Dinner, it was a sincere honor and so much fun! Printing beautiful things is what makes us excited about what we do everyday, but being able to print the invitations for such a fabulous event, honoring amazing wedding professionals we truly admire, was especially exciting.
| Visit our sister sites | Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Fertile Thoughts Infertility Support |
